title: Rehabilitation in nursing homes: a cross-national comparison of recipients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to examine the prevalence of therapy use in nursing homes in selected countries and to describe the characteristics of nursing home residents who receive therapy. DESIGN and
  
  
  METHODS
  the design of the study is cross-sectional, using Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments of nursing home residents. The sample includes all nursing home residents in six US states (n = 273491), in Copenhagen, Denmark (n = 3451), Reyjkavik, Iceland (n = 1254), and selected locations in Italy (n = 1089) and Japan (n = 1255).
  
  
  METHODS
  we determined who had received physical or occupational therapy treatments in the last 7 days. Demographic and clinical characteristics of recipients were compared relative to other nursing home residents within each country.
  
  
  RESULTS
  in the five countries, the prevalence of receiving therapy was 31% (Iceland), 30% Japan), 23% (Denmark), 14% (Italy) and 11% (USA). Substantial proportions of the recipients were over the age of 85, were clinically stable and had been in the nursing home for longer than 90 days. Across all countries, residents with poorer activities of daily living (ADL) scores but good cognitive scores were more likely to receive therapy than other residents. Rehabilitation nursing, an adjunct to therapy, was concentrated on residents with poor ADL scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  substantial numbers of long-stay residents receive therapy in nursing homes, including those over the age of 85 years and those with cognitive impairment. Hence, future rehabilitation outcome studies can involve these previously understudied patient populations.
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. KATHERINE_BERG@Brown.edu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gilgen
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D007558:Italy; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States